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Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park reaches a big milestone in 2015, so the park is kicking off a year-long celebration of its 100th birthday on September 3, 2014. An ambitious agenda featuring a wide variety of activities has been planned through September 2015 for the centennial observance which has a great slogan: "Wilderness, Wildlife, Wonder: Honor the Past, Celebrate the Present, Inspire the Future."

For many, fall conjures images of blizzards of golden leaves, the eerie bugles of bull elk, and the first crisp, possibly snow-dusted, days of year’s end. For the northern half of the country these are the realities of the National Park System. There are the breathtaking days of hiking, watching wildlife on the move, and even tasting the season in the bounties of wild berries and other fruits.

In 1914, the Colorado Mountain Club, hoping to persuade Congress to support the establishment of a national park in the Estes Valley and Grand Lake area, arranged for Arapaho elders from the Wind River Reservation to provide Arapaho names for local landmarks. Part of that effort involved a two-week pack trip through the area, and the centennial of those activities is being celebrated with a series of events on August 9 at Rocky Mountain National Park.

Bison madness is in full swing in Yellowstone National Park with snorting, groaning, spitting, bison bulls chasing the girls (cows) down the roads, much to the delight of many park visitors who gladly park their vehicles in the road and film the action. No family vacation is complete without getting caught in a Yellowstone bison jam.

The body of an unidentified man has been recovered from the approach to Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, where rangers found themselves working another search-and-rescue in the mountains leading into the night Friday.